SickSteps
by MyFaction
Summary: Riley gets really sick while practising for regionals, so James helps take care of her.
1. Chapter 1

**Riley POV:  
**When I enter the dance studio I can still feel the steady pulse behind my eyes. I walk over and put my bag and drink bottle in my cubby hole, I feel a hand placed on my shoulder.  
"Hey" a confident voice says-its James.  
I turn around. "Hi" I reply quietly.  
"You alright?" James asks casually.  
I nod. "I'm fine." My voice cracks- my throat is killing me.  
James tilts his head to one side and looks into my eyes, he knows I'm lying.

James opens his mouth to say something, but Kate's voices rings out instead.  
"Alright dancers, there is going to be a short rehearsal today because I have to meet up with the costumes designers for nationals." She informs us, as we gather around her. "So that means that you get to leave early." She continues. A-troupe cheers and I cringe because the noise hurts my head.

I've never been so thankful that rehearsal has been cut short, even in the first five minutes I already feel like I could collapse. I'm exhausted, I'm sweaty, I'm a mess.  
"Ok, back to the beginning and this time I want full energy!" Kate announces.  
As I walk back to my starting position I hear James say "Are you sure you're alright?"  
"I'm fine." I insist as I wipe rivulets of sweat from my forehead.  
I see Michelle and Daniel steering at me, they both look worried. I give them a small smile, hoping that then they would believe that I'm ok, but even I don't buy it. I see Michelle open her mouth to say something, but the music starts and she closes it instead.

I feel so horrible it takes ten times the amount of effort to move let alone dance. I feel my movements become smaller and smaller as the dance goes on. Then I see Kate looking at me and our eyes meet. Her words "FULL ENERGY" echo continuously around my head. I'm disappointing her. I feel as though I might cry. I brace myself, knowing that she'll yell at me- but she doesn't.

When the music stops I'm out of breath. I have to place my hands on my knees for support. I cannot bare to dance again.

Kate begins to walk over to me, then the phone rings in her office and she runs to answer it instead.  
"Just take five, guys." She says.  
James walks over to me and places his hand on my back and says, "Come on, let's sit you down."


	2. Chapter 2

**Riley POV:**  
I'm sitting down on the bench outside Kate's office next to James. I rest my head on his shoulder and he has his arm wrapped protectively around me. Feeling his warmth helps my aching body to relax.

Kate comes out of her office with her handbag and keys, looking flustered.  
"Turns out that the meeting has been moved forward, so I'm going to have to leave now. You can continue to practise and I'll be back in an hour or two to lock-up." Kate announces, then she walks out of the studio.  
I feel relieved that I don't have to dance again until tomorrow. All I want to do is sit here in James's arms for ever-I'm way too exhausted to move. I feel James hold me tighter and I close my eyes.

"Riley. Stephanie, Tiffany and I are going to the mall, ok. "Emily says to me. I hear her leave before I can reply.

"Is she alright?" Michelle says worriedly.  
"Na, she isn't. She says she is though." James says as he puts his hand on my burning forehand.  
"Wait, is she sleeping?" West says curiously.  
"No." I mumble as I open my eyes to see Michelle, Chloe, Daniel, Eldon and West crowded around me, they all look concerned.  
"You look horrible, why did you come to dance today?" Chloe asks.  
"I didn't want to let the team down. I mean regionals is just around the corner. Plus I didn't want to miss a practise."  
"I'm sure Kate wouldn't have minded if you took the day off." Daniel says.  
"Yeah, especially if you're sick." Eldon chimes in.  
"But, nobody else takes days off." I respond.  
"I would if I were sick," West says before adding, "Except I don't get sick...I'm invisible."  
We all laugh at West's sense of hilarity, but my smile quickly fades when I feel a sick feeling to my stomach.  
"Are you alright?" Michelle asks immediately.  
"No, not really. I just feel really, really-excuse me!"

I run towards the girls bathroom with my hand over my mouth as my bottom jaw begins to feel really heavy. I reach the toilet just in time. I hear someone open the door as I continue to throw my guts out, I have to grip the sides of the toilet for extra support. I feel so disgusting that I begin to cry. The tears burn my eyes and the sobs make my headache a lot worse.  
"Riley, Riley are you ok?" I hear Michelle say. It sounds like she's on the other side of the bathroom to give me some privacy.  
I flush the toilet and get up slowly and begin to wash my mouth out in the sink on the opposite wall. When I'm clean I rest my elbows on the edge of the sink and place my head in my hands. The coolness of the remaining water feels nice against my forehead.  
"Yeah, I'm a little better, I guess." I reply.  
I hear someone knock on the bathroom door.  
"Riley are you alright?" James yells.

When I come out of the bathroom, I walk straight into James's arms, he embraces me and says, "Let's get you home." 


	3. Chapter 3

**James POV:**  
I drive Riley home and help her up the stairs to her bedroom. She's a mess. She's weak and can barely support her own weight and I can tell she's burning up because I feel sweat making her T-shirt stick to her back.

When we reach Riley's room I wait outside so she can get changed.  
"I'll be out her if you need any help." I say.  
"I'll be fine." Riley answers quietly.  
Riley opens the door when she is dressed and I walk into her room. Posters of famous dancers cover the walls and there are plenty of pictures of Riley and Emily dancing together. The sun shines through the two large windows on the opposite side of her room.  
"Nice room." I state.  
Riley laughs a little, but I can tell its forced.  
"What's wrong?" I ask, my eyebrows knit together.  
"I,I-I just feel a little sick again." She stammers.  
I see her expression change to something of disgust and she whirls around and sprints of towards the bathroom. I follow at her heels.  
Within seconds she is on the tiles violently reaching, her body shaking ridged. I hold her hair and rub her back as she continues to throw up. When she stops I feel her body relax a bit. I don't let go of her hair until she looks at me.  
"I'm sorry." She says as I embrace her and she cries into my shirt.  
"Bah, don't worry 'bout it." I shrug.

I pick Riley up and carry her back over to her room and place her on her bed. She crawls under the covers and I tuck her in. I feel her forehead.  
"Gosh, you're burning up." I exclaim.  
Riley just sighs. I lean over about to kiss her, but she stops me.  
"If you kiss me you'll get sick too." She says, but I kiss her anyway.  
"Just promise me that you won't come to dance tomorrow."  
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" She says with a faint smile.  
"No..."  
"I promise." She says as she closes her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Riley POV:**  
I wake up to my mum walking out of my room.  
"Mum?" I croak. My throat feels so sore and dry. I try to swallow, but I end up coughing instead.  
My mum hands me the glass on water that I keep by my bed. The cool water does wonders for my throat. I when I finally stop coughing I continue, "I thought you were at work."  
"I was." My mum says, taking the glass of water from my hands and putting it back on my bedside table. "But, James called me saying that dace practise ended early and that you're sick."  
"Is James still here?" I ask.  
" No honey, he left a few minutes ago when I came home. He was sitting right beside your bed when I got home. He said that he refused to leave your side." Mum says as she comes and sits on the side of my bed and begins to stroke my head.  
"Did he say anything else?" I ask.  
"Yes, he told me to swear to keep you home tomorrow." My mum laughs throwing her head back.  
"Mmmmm." I sigh.  
"He's a nice boy James." My mum adds, as she gets up and leaves the room, but I stop her.  
"Mum can you please shut the windows, its freezing."  
"Goodness Riles, you must be sick." My mum says as she walks over the windows and closes them.  
"How do you know?"  
"Because I'm rather hot right now and would love for more windows to be open." My mum laughs as she walks over to check my forehead. Her hands feel freezing. "Oh my, you are burning up."  
I just breathe deeply and close my eyes.  
"Just sleep now, hopefully you'll be better in a couple of days."  
"Mum, I'm home!" Emily yells from downstairs.  
"I'd better go see Emily." Mum says and kisses me on my forehead and says "Sweet dreams, love."

Within moments I'm asleep again. Except this time I have a new perspective on James-maybe he is more responsible than we give him credit for.


	5. Chapter 5

**James POV:  
**"Dude, how was Riley after dance?" West asks me while we stand around waiting for Kate.  
"Even worse."  
"You serious!" Michelle raises her eyebrows.  
"Yeah, she was really sick again when she got home, like _way_ worse than before."  
"No way." Daniels says.  
"Yes way."  
"Gosh, I hope she's better today." Michelle says.  
"Me too." I reply.

The door to Studio A opens and Emily walks in.  
"Yo Emily, is Riley here?" I ask.  
"No. She's sick." Emily replies and goes over and talks to Stephanie and Tiffany.  
I sigh out of relief because I know that Riley will be better soon.

"Come on dancers, let's start rehearsal with some conditioning." Kate says, appearing from her office. She stops for a second. "Wait we're missing someone. Is Chloe working?"  
"No, I'm here." Chloe calls out.  
"Oh, there you are. So who's miss-Riley, where's Riley."  
"She's home sick." Emily says.  
"Oh, thank goodness, she looked dreadful yesterday. " Kate sighs in relief. " Has she seen a doctor?"  
"No, mum's taking her at twelve, I think." Emily replies.  
"That's good." Kate says. "Alright, let's get conditioning."  
All of A Troupe replies by either groaning or saying sarcastic "Yays"-conditioning sucks.

After dance I make my way over to Riley's house. I knock on the door-no answer. I try the door handle, it shifts and the door clicks open.  
_"Somebody must be home." _I think.  
I walk inside closing the door behind me.  
"Hello?" I call out.  
"James?" I scratchy voice say from the neighbouring room.  
I turn the corner to see Riley barely awake laying on the coach in a bundle of blankets.  
"Hi." I say, sitting on the coach next to her.  
"Hey." She says, sluggish from sleep.  
"How are you feeling?"  
"I've been better." She sniffles a laugh and rests her head on my lap.  
"How was the doctors." I ask, stroking her hair.  
"Fine. Apparently I've just got the flu so I should be dancing again in a day or two." She says. "How was dance by the way?"  
"You're lucky you missed it we did abs and legs conditioning for half of it and the regionals routine for the other."  
"And are you sore?" Riley laughs.  
"Heck yeah." I laugh too.

We sit in silence for awhile. I just run my hands over Riley's hair. Riley yawns eventually just as she's about to drift off to sleep the door opens and Emily and Stephanie walk in talking about one of Stephanie's latest auditions, until Stephanie sees us.  
"Oh, James is here." She says to Emily.  
"Is he? Hey James. Riley we'll be upstairs in my room kay." Emily says then her and Stephanie walk up the stairs.  
I look down at Riley to see her asleep. I ease may way out from under her and kiss her forehead and whisper "I love you." I then pull the blankets back on top of her and head for the door. When I have one foot out of the room I hear Riley say, "James, thank you for calling my Mum and looking after me yesterday."  
I smile. "Bah, don't worry about it."  
Then I walk out the door.


	6. Chapter 6

**James POV:**  
"Ok, time for a break I think." Kate says clapping her hands together.  
We all stand around for a bit before West suggests going to Squeezed. We all follow suit and grab our wallets and phones before leaving.

At Squeezed I sit with Daniel, West and Eldon who are talking to Michelle and Chloe. We strike-up a nice conversation about West's old dance crew, Seeds, when I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket.  
It's a text from Riley.  
"Oh." I say out loud accidentally.  
"What's happened?" Michelle asks suddenly.  
"It's a text from Riley." I reply.  
"What's it say." West asks.  
I read the text aloud. "Cannot wait to see you. I'm coming to dance tomorrow."  
"That's great!" Michelle gasps. "That's excellent news!"  
I switch off for the rest of the conversation. All I can think about is how excited I am to see Riley tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7

**Riley POV:  
**I feel over the moon when I walk into the Next Step studio. I've missed my friends and enough practises and I cannot wait to dance again, even though I still have to ignore the tickle in the back of my throat and the pulsing in my temples.  
When I walk into Studio A the first friendly face I see is Daniel's.  
"Riley! You're back!" He exclaims, he smiles so hard his eyes twinkle. "Hey James!" Daniel shouts behind him. "Riley's back!"  
James appears from the corner where our cubby holes are kept and runs towards me with his arms open. He picks me up so my feet are off the ground and smiles so wide I can see all his teeth.  
"I missed you." He says, still holding me.  
"I missed you too." I laugh trying to touch the ground with my feet.  
James drops me and kisses me square on the lips.  
"Nawh." Chris says mocking a lovey-dubby face as he walks on to the dance floor. "Still a lady's man are we James?" He says wiggling his eyebrows.  
"Yes sir." James laughs.

We all begin to stretch and chat about things, when Kate calls me over.  
"Welcome back." She says smiling.  
"It's good to be back." I say returning the smile.  
"Now, your mum called saying that you're still sick. Am I correct?"  
I nod. "Is that a problem?"  
"No, no, not at all." Kate says. "I just wanted to say just take it easy and don't push yourself too hard."  
"Cool. Got it." I reply.

The first half of dancing goes well because we start with ballet which is less energetic and more relaxing than the regionals routine. However the second half is a different story. Every movement takes a toll on my body, I'm tired and short of breath making my throat dry so I end up couching.  
"Riley, go sit down sweetie." Kate says during the regionals routine. I obey, too sick to argue.

I sit down on the same bench that James and I sat on the last time I was at dancing. Only now, since I'm sitting down, I can really feel how achy my body is. Everywhere there is a tingling sensation like before a limb goes to sleep. I feel weighed down. I tilt my head back so it touches the wall behind me and my eyelids droop so I let them close.  
I hear the music finish and footsteps coming towards me. I open my eyes to see Kate kneeling in front of my searching for a sign of life in my eyes.  
"Riley, I'm going to call your Mum so she can come a pick you up, alright." She says sympathetically.  
I nod a she walks away.  
I lie down on the bench and curl up in a ball-wishing that I could feel better.

"Riley, Riles wake-up, Riley." I hear my Mum say as she shakes my shoulder.  
I open my eyes to see my Mum kneeling in front of me with Kate and Chris standing behind her looking concerned.  
"Sorry sweetie, I thought you were well enough to go to dancing." My Mum continues. "Come on, I'll take you home now." 


	8. Chapter 8

**Riley POV:  
**I wake up in my room and look at my clock. Its 5:30- it's time to take my medication.  
I walk into the bathroom and look in the medicine cabinet. I can't see them.  
_"That's weird, I remember putting them back in there the last time I took them."_ I think to myself.  
_"Maybe Mum put them somewhere else."  
_"Mum?" I call out as I walk down the stairs, my throat hurts when I speak. "Mum?" I continue to call as I walk into the kitchen. I see Emily sitting at the table sorting out the mail. "Where's Mum?"  
"Oh, she and Dad went out for dinner with some family friends." Emily says looking up from the pile of mail. "Why do you need her?"  
"I can't find the prescription medicine that the doctor gave me; I thought Mum might have put it somewhere." I say, my voice rough.  
"What does it look like?" Emily asks as she gets up from her chair.  
"It's in one of those brown paper bags with a sticker on the seal."  
"I think I saw that before...over here." Emily says as she walks over to the kitchen bench and rummages through the clutter of mess. "Ah, found them." Emily hands them to me.  
"Thanks." I say.

I grab a glass of water and down the pills and sit down next to Emily at the table.  
"What are you doing?" I ask.  
"Sorting these into piles." Emily says and then slams both of her hands on the table and says, "Done!"  
"Emily then walks into the kitchen.  
"Has Mum made you lemon and honey yet?" She asks.  
"Never had it." I reply.  
"I've _got_ too." Emily insists." I had it last time I was sick, it's amazing. I'll make it for you."  
"Are you sure?" I ask.  
"Yeah." She says gladly.  
"What are you so happy about?" i inquire.  
"I don't know, just everything is going well, I mean Stephanie, Tiffany and I are all good friends again and I'm just happy." Emily shrugs. "Oh there's some mail for you by the way." Emily points to a stack of letters across from me.  
I slide them towards me as Emily continues to work away in the kitchen. The letters don't interest me, one of them is about my situation at the doctors, another has got my bank-a- count balance in it and the other one is from my physiotherapist.

Emily brings over the cup of lemon honey and sets it on a coaster in front of me.  
"There you go." She says, sitting down opposite me.  
"Thank you." I say before taking a sip. "Wow Em, this _is_ amazing."  
I continue to sip on my drink-which is working wonders for my throat. I notice that Emily is smiling whilst looking out of the window, as if expecting something to come up the driveway.  
"What are you staring at." I ask as I turn around to see what she's looking at.  
"Because." She begins. "I have a surprise for you."  
"Why? What is it?" I say, slightly excited.  
"Well, I can't tell you or else it won't be a surprise then." She teases.  
Then there is a knock on the door. Emily jumps out of her seat and squeaks with excitement and runs to answer the door. I hear faint voices and then she comes back with a cardboard box in her arms, which she puts on the table. She goes into the kitchen draw and grabs a pair of scissors and cuts sellotape. Emily smiles and opens the box.  
"What's in it?" I ask smiling, because I like seeing her happy.  
"Well, you know how I need new jazz shoes, right?"  
I nod.  
"Well, I found some cool ones online." She says as she pulls them out of the box.  
"They're awesome." I say, looking at the black and shiny shoes.  
"And..." Emily continues."They were having a two for one special, so I saw your point shoes and they looked pretty worn-out, so I figured that you needed new ones, so..."  
"You didn't." I say, excitement building in my voice.  
"But I did!" Emily squeals as she pulls out a brand new pair of the prettiest point shoes I've ever seen.  
"There so beautiful." I gasp as I receive them from her. "And they come with spare ribbons and everything. Thank you so, so, so much Em!"  
I get up and hug the living daylights out of her. And don't tell her this, but she is the best sister ever. 


	9. Chapter 9

**I am very sorry to inform you that this will be the last chapter of this story as I feel that Riley has been sick long enough and it's time to move on and write other Next Step stories.**

**Riley POV:  
**I walk down stairs and into the kitchen, feeling much better today. I'm sitting down with my bowl of cornflakes when my Mum walks in.  
"You're eating today!" My Mum exclaims.  
"I am." I say with my mouth full of cereal.  
"Well, I'm off to work. Emily headed off to the Studio early saying something about new choreography for Stephanie, Tiffany and her trio routine and your Dad left for work hours ago, so you'll have to make your own way to dance if you are going." Mum says before she walks out the door.

After I finish my breakfast and get ready for dance I grab my things and walk towards the bus stop. When I'm half way there I see James's car come from around the corner. He stops beside me and opens the window.  
"Your chariot awaits." James says in his classic way.  
"What are you doing here? I didn't tell you that I was going to dance, I was going to surprise you." I say smiling.  
"I was coming to see you anyway." He replies and I smile harder.  
"That's so sweet." I blush.  
"Come on get in." James says cheerfully as he opens the door.  
When I get in the car he kisses my cheek before driving off to The Next Step.

James and I walk hand in hand into Studio A. Everyone is standing around talking to one another. James and I go over and stand between Michelle and Stephanie.  
"You're looking brighter today." Michelle whispers to me as the others talk about the surprise that Kate has for us.  
"I feel it." I smile.  
We talk for a few more minutes about what we think Kate's surprise will be. West comes up with the conclusion that it is extra conditioning.  
"Oh my gosh, I hope not!" Tiffany says loudly.  
"No, n-n-n-n-n-n-no." Daniel begins. "Kate is way nice than that."  
"True, true." We all agree.  
"Oh, I hope its learning new tricks and such, that would be really fun!" Chloe smiles and her eye light up.  
"Same." Michelle says.  
"Me too." Emily says. " I've always wanted to be able to do the helicopter lift."  
"Same here." Stephanie agrees. " That's the one that you and Giselle do, right?" She says to Daniel.  
"Yep." He agrees, looking slightly pleased with himself because nobody else can do it.  
"It looks sssooo cool." Michelle says.  
I nod in agreement.

"Alright A troupe!" Kate shouts from around the corner. " Are you ready?"  
"Yes!" We all shout in unison.  
"Ok, here it is!" Kate says as she appears wheeling a rack of sparkly costumes. Our regionals costumes.  
We all run towards them, searching for our own costume.  
"Can we put them on?" Emily pleads.  
"Of course." Kate insists.  
We all rush to put them on. We gather on the dance floor admire each other in our new regionals costumes.  
"They look good don't they?" Kate says nodding.  
"Yes!" We reply, all smiling.  
"Cool, I'm glad you think so." Kate continues. "Now dance in them."  
"You serious? What if they get ruined?" Tiffany says for all of us.  
"They won't, they were made to dance in." Kate assures us.  
The music begins and we begin dancing like we've danced before as the excitement of regionals begins to grow on us.


End file.
